He Says...She Says...The Moving Merry-go-Round

Soooo, the hubster has insistedthat I share with you HIS moving tips. He foolishly believes that women do not know how to pack for a move.

This is his list of do not, shall not, have not, etc. We have agreed to disagree on this list.

He says: DO NOT pack every book in the house into a single box. We are men, not forklifts. This same concept applies to cast iron, cookware, fine china, silver, cinder blocks, etc. She says: pack as much as you can in the boxes....few to pack, few to empty!

He says: DO NOT label every single box "extremely fragile" or "do not stack". The square footage of a moving van is much more limited than the volume...if you stack everything in one layer on the bottom, what are you going to place in the rest of the space? Moving vans are made for things to be stacked! She says: if you break my breakables, it will cost more than the price of the moving van to replace them all. He says: every single box does not include a "fragile item". She says: yes it does!

He says: DO NOT begin unpacking while everyone is still unloading the moving van. Movers get frustrated having to step over grandmother's china when bringing in the chiffarobe. She says: I do not own grandmother's china OR a chiffarobe!

See what fun we have??!!!

Here are a few more of the hubster's moving tips:He says: Label boxes...not with the room they came from but the room they are going into. This way, the movers know where to place them. She says: I may want to use the items in a different room and I don't want to have to roam all over the house looking for my decorations. If I know where it came from, then I can decide where it's going.

He says: If a box you are loading clearly has tape intact from the previous move, throw the box away or give it to your children as an heirloom...depending upon the label. You don't want to give them perfectly good tools. She says: I don't mind them having your perfectly good tools.He says: Back a pickup truck next to the moving van. Items that can go to charity or the dump (please make sure to differentiate) can go into the pickup. She says: I can't argue with that idea.

He says: Take a lot of photos of your current home, inside and out, before you begin packing. That way, you have more than a corner shot of the sofa at Jimmy's 12th birthday party. She says: I can't argue with that idea.So there you have it....a day on the moving merry-go-round!

30 comments

Oh boy, I do not envy you, moving is the worst! Luckily it looks like you two have it under control and you make each other laugh, that is more that half the battle! Good luck...ps, I like his tips! I'm sorry! ;)

LOL...now wait a minute...you and Kim are supposed to be on my side! ;-) His vocabulary is extensive...he was around his grandparents quite a bit...LOL. He's an 'old soul'...LOL Thank you so much...we are still weeks away....we'll see how it all shakes out...LOL

I know, haha. I AM on your side, but we have to give the guys a little credit once in awhile. That way, they move heavy furniture for us and let us paint the same rooms over and over! And over and over (in my case, hee hee.)

You are exactly right! I tell him how big his muscles are while he’s lifting heavy boxes and furniture….LOL And when we are in our own space, I do the same thing…paint is an easy change and keeps us happy…at least until the new paint colors come out! ;-)

Yes, the books always get us. We love to read and have so many books. The books actually comprise the majority of our moving boxes. And I do use the small boxes so that I can help move the books. :-) You are right, I need his back! ;-) The hubster is definitely grateful to you! He's been reading the comments just to prove his point! LOL Hugs!! :-)

He does, but I don’t tell him he does. ;-) The books are killers for us because we have so many, but I can’t get rid of them. We got rid of quite a few when we moved from Alabama to Texas and I swore I would never do it again. I cannot imagine moving a piano! UGH!! Lucy and Desi of moving?? I can see that…LOL Hugs!!

i'm sorry.i found this hilarious.i love to move. I grew up moving. military... then government for my dad. required moving every year.but we didn't have much to move. on purpose. otherwise it's a divorce I would think with each move! LOLOL.one military family across the street from my little cottage a few years ago... had to move. transferred yet again to who knows where. they decided to do it themselves this time and got this HUGE rent a truck.they packed stuff and boxes and furniture into that truck for three solid days! they would stand out there and fight. it started off with just a raised voice. mostly hers. since our voices are higher they seem to carry.soon enough though... the deep 'voice of reason' as she called him... could be heard YELLING as if to his troops! LOLOLOL! she was on the lawn instructing and he was in the truck packing it all in.they repacked that truck TWICE before they finally took off one morning. they had a LOT of stuff!and the morning they left... there were two chests of drawers and one table and some lamps left on the lawn by the drive. with a sign that said. MOVED. THESE ARE FREE.LOLOL.i wish you luck in your move. and hopefully only ONE packing of the truck! LOL.this coming from an expert packer and mover. seriously. since i grew up doing it i love it! i love fresh starts.hey. not bragging here. just... after doing it most of one's whole life... one should finally be an expert at it. i'm certainly not even close to being an expert in anything else! like tessa said... the main thing is not to hurt either one of you!!! i guess if he gets just TOO unruly and unreasonable... you could always leave him on the lawn with a sign . . .MOVED. HE IS FREE! love and hugs. xo♥

Oh my goodness, I could not imagine moving every year! I think I would pare down to little of nothing if I had to move that often because it would make it so much easier!

We moved ourselves from Alabama to Texas….it took 2 trips. It was not fun. It was snowing when we left Alabama the first time and it was snowing when we reached Dallas. We were iced in for 4 days in Dallas and couldn’t even unpack the truck. THAT was fun! After we unloaded the truck and returned it, we waiting a week and drove back to Alabama to get the rest of our belongings and have yet another moving sale…we had about 3. I will never move with that much stuff again…LOL. We moved ourselves from Texas to Tennessee….it was not as horrible, but I told the hubster…get movers or we are staying in this house and renting until we leave Tennessee. All that to say, I totally understand the dilemma of your poor neighbors. I’m sure our neighbors have enjoyed our outdoor conversations as well…LOL

I commend your expertise! Seriously! Moving is just one of those things in life that while on one side it is exciting because of the new beginnings, the other side is the dreaded packing to get there! :-) OMGOSH…that is hilarious…leaving him on the lawn with a sign!!! LOL Love it!!! Love and hugs to you!!!

I packed up everything I did not trust the movers carrying and took it over to the new house in stages. Good luck with all those rules. The day we moved from one side of town to the other, I left for school to teach at 6am, then drove 50 miles to graduate class, drove back to school for an PTO open house, and arrived back at the new house to find all furniture in place and an exhausted husband and dog. Best move ever!~

We will be doing the same thing. That's we are packing up most things now and will leave the heavy things to the movers. As soon as we close at the end of the month, I will spend that entire day hauling stuff to the house....the hubster rolls his eyes at my ideas, but I think they are good ones...LOL. That would be AWESOME to come home too!! Might even be worth a back rub because I would be tired from all that driving! ;-) Truly, Chucks deserved lots of cudos for that!!

Good lord... I've been through 8 moves since I was 18 and I'm not envying you at all! Especially all the BS that goes along with it. I hope you have a good supply of whatever you imbibe on to relax. I always did and I probably will now reading this LOL

This is my 11th lifetime move….you would think I would be better at it, but my attitude about moving stinks. And it isn’t the moving part, it is the packing and unpacking. It is such a pain trying to decide what to keep, what to get rid of, what goes to temporary storage, etc. Imbibing…yep…the labels will be all over the place…you may even have a stray box show up at your house! :-) Hugs!!

@ Hubster – Thanks for sharing your Moving tips – there is no doubt about it, guys really know their stuff and ARE The Best when it comes to moving! Check out the “DIY” Chick tips featured in this Moving Day Blues Song – you will get the drift of how indispensable guys are after the first 2 minutes and recall that “Move” is a four-letter word! LOL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGmWqhXJGZc

As much as I hate to admit it, they are good at the moving. I just don't want him packing my teapots and glasses...LOL. He thinks you just sit them in a box with no protection are are good to go...LOL OMGosh...that words to that song are hilarious!!! Thank you so much for sharing....love that music!! BTW....I've been trying to find your blog, can you give me the link?

Sigh – thee ole just throw the fragiles in a box and cross your fingers usually doesn't work unless you buy the proper moving China Barrel boxes with cell kits. To drive your point home, be sure to Set Dec (NOT for actual eating) your table all week long with hairline fractured, broken, cracked and chipped plates, bowls, glasses, teapot, mugs- the works, even if you have to raid Goodwill to acquire said “Training Materials”! lol I don’t blog just haunt good ones like yours!

Awww, thank you so much! You are sweet!! LOL....that is a great idea!! The entire table set with broken and cracked dishes!! I've seen quite a few of the moving boxes with the cell kits for glasses and such! If it looks like we will be moving again soon, I will buy those to move my glasses and plates this time. And will store them for the next move! Have a wonderful day and thank you again so much for your sweet words!

Hi Benita! :)Ah ha ha, this was funny...and quite true really! ;)Our move here to Illinois from Canada the movers packed us (I know, we were lucky)...but the funny thing is that the man that came with the packing crew filled huge boxes full of heavy stuff and then the other men that were doing the lifting were cursing him! So...it's not just women is what I'm getting at! ;)And I'm like you, I have no idea where what room it will end up in, in the new house so why label it for a room it's going into if you are not sure where it's going yet?? ;)

Oh, to have someone pack all of this stuff for me would be a dream! But we are too cheap to pay for it…LOL The only good thing about packing yourself is that you sort of remember what’s in the boxes…LOL. That is so crazy that a man would pack the boxes that way…I know the movers were wanting to make him carry those heavy boxes! I’ve tried to be very good this time around about how much goes into the boxes, but some things are just heavy…..like a huge collection of cookbooks. :-) See, those are my thoughts exactly! :-)